“They call it the concentration camp of the 22nd century. None of the aberrants sent there ever come out alive. But there’s really no other way. I saw on the news that those aberrants who’ve lost their minds are left with only the instinct to eat. People say a person is made up of their memories—by then, I wouldn’t even be ‘me’ anymore. So I think it doesn’t really matter if my body dies in the shelter.”

“Although I can’t see any aberration in myself, I’m not completely unchanged either. Dr. Carter, I want to remind you… you smell different from normal people, very fragrant. You must be careful. Even though the district has started testing, it’s still chaotic outside, so you’d better not go out. I’ve already deleted the surveillance footage from that night for you, so as long as you’re okay, that’s good.”

As if giving his last words, Ethan Sullivan rambled on for quite a while.

“And also, thank you. Dr. Carter.”

Ethan Sullivan came from the countryside and dropped out of school after middle school. Later, he worked at a construction site, broke a leg, and it was Adam Carter who performed the surgery.

He was saved, but left with a limp and couldn’t return to work. Just then, Adam Carter saw a job posting downstairs and introduced it to him.

Ethan Sullivan’s stomach let out a few untimely “gurgles”—he was hungry.

He was still eating normally, but food could no longer make him feel full.

After waking up this morning, driven by hunger, he even secretly cut off a piece of his own flesh. Surprisingly, it didn’t hurt much.

Ethan Sullivan took one last look at the front door of Adam Carter’s home. Then he turned and left.

After that, he would be escorted by staff from the Center for Pollution Disease Control to the shelter.

In this neighborhood, there were a total of seven people going to the shelter.

There were more people affected by pollution in K City than expected, so beds here were especially scarce.

The shelter provided single rooms, each likely a temporary conversion, extremely cramped, separated in the middle by a sheet of iron, like a train sleeper car.

Naturally, there was no such thing as soundproofing in a place like this. You could hear the sound of someone in the next room chewing an apple as clear as day.

Fortunately, Ethan Sullivan was used to hardship, so he didn’t feel he couldn’t get by, though he was a bit worried about Dr. Carter who was still in the neighborhood. That’s why he had some insomnia the first night.

*

W City, adjacent to K City.

A person in a black robe stood in the suburbs, gazing from afar at the earthen wall outside K City.

That tall wall not only blocked the land above, but also extended downward, cutting off the river.

A special agent for killing fish eggs had already been released into the water. In about two days, all the pollutants in the river would be thoroughly poisoned.

The black-robed figure’s gender was indiscernible, the whole person tightly concealed.

“The shelter is the best hatching ground. Only by devouring can one achieve better evolution. Sometimes, I’m truly grateful for those bright parts of human nature. At least they built a shelter, didn’t they?”

The black-robed figure stood motionless, with no one else around.

Strangely, the voice actually came from the back of his head.

“I wonder which lucky person will get that king fish egg… For this hatching, I even deliberately stirred up chaos in H City, so headquarters is overwhelmed and naturally has no energy to care about this place.”

“Yes, I know, your son is still in K City. But that doesn’t matter, does it? And don’t tell me you still have feelings like fatherly love.”

“There will naturally be many sacrifices in this process. But all sacrifices are for the coming of the great god.”

A gust of wind blew, lifting the hood of the black robe.

Its real face had only a single vertical eye, no mouth, the whites of the eye bloodshot. On the back of its head was a constantly shifting human face, sometimes male, sometimes female.

“K City is just the beginning. Sooner or later, this world will be filled with the relics of the god!” The expression on that human face was fanatical, then calmed down, “And we are the creators of the god.”

Chapter 6, 006

006/Seven Streams

Although the house was already very clean and the frogman’s bones had been dealt with in a pickle jar, with nothing else to do, Adam Carter started cleaning again.

The system sighed heavily in his ear: [Damn it. Why. Why did you flush the minced frog meat down the drain? Do you know how hard it is to find fresh meat these days! You wastrel.]

Clearly, the frog meat was really delicious, or the system really wanted Adam Carter to eat it, otherwise it wouldn’t have repeated itself so many times.

Adam Carter sneered, “Heh.”

While cleaning the TV stand, he accidentally knocked over the potted plant on top.

Ever since the citywide lockdown, Adam Carter had pulled out the delicate little flowers from the pot and planted cheap, tasty chives instead.

Now, after more than half a month, the chives had just sprouted a new batch, and he’d planned to cut some for scrambled eggs at lunch. Unexpectedly, the flowerpot made the first move.

The clay pot shattered all over the floor.

The fish egg buried in the soil rolled out, landing right at Adam Carter’s feet.

Golden and shiny. You could vaguely see a bit of a white baby fish inside.

The king fish egg had been buried in the soil for over ten days, and due to lack of water, looked a bit shriveled.

Luckily, its quality was extraordinary. If it had been an ordinary fish egg, it would have died by the second day underground.